I gain ten years' worth of cultivation every day, and even geniuses will only see my doorstep!

Qin Yuan pushed the door. The door wouldn't budge. He slashed at it with his bone blade, and a crack appeared in the door. He pried it open with his hands, his fingernails digging into the ice until they snapped. He rammed the door open with his shoulder.

Lin Qing'er was chained to an icicle. The chains grew out of the icicle and were directly connected to her bones. Her hair was disheveled, her face was covered in blood, and her clothes were tattered. Her eyes were closed, and there was frost on her eyelashes.

Qin Yuan walked up to her and used his bone blade to cut the chains. The first strike left a white mark on the chain. The second strike split it open. The third strike broke it. He cut through the chains one by one, a total of six chains. With each chain he severed, Lin Qing'er's body went weaker.

The last chain snapped, and Lin Qing'er collapsed. Qin Yuan caught her; her body was ice-cold, as if she were hugging a block of ice. Her cultivation was sealed, and his source energy couldn't sense her at all. Qin Yuan used his source energy to dispel the coldness within her body; she coughed, spitting out black blood clots. The blood clots contained shards of ice.

"You shouldn't have come." Her voice was soft, like a leaf in the wind.

Qin Yuan didn't answer. The ice prison began to tremble. The ice walls cracked, and chunks of ice fell from above. The gods activated their self-destruct formation. Qin Yuan picked up Lin Qing'er and ran outside. His left leg was broken, and his right leg was almost broken too, making him stagger as he ran. The ice corridor behind him continued to collapse, chunks of ice hitting his back, but he gritted his teeth, refusing to fall. Lin Qing'er was in his arms, her eyes closed, her hands clutching his clothes.

The moment they burst through the entrance to the Frozen Abyss, the ice peak collapsed with a deafening roar. Qin Yuan, carrying Lin Qing'er, rolled onto the snow, leaving behind a shower of ice shards and a deafening rumble.

Qin Yuan carried Lin Qing'er as they ran across the icy plain. He wasn't running fast; his broken leg made him weak, and every step felt like a knife cutting into him. Behind them came shouts of battle; Shuang Yue, leading three hundred elite soldiers, was getting closer and closer.

Qin Yuan found an ice cave and blocked the entrance with a huge rock. He put Lin Qing'er on the ground, and she leaned against the ice wall, her eyes opening.

"Are you going alone again?"

Qin Yuan said, "If you live, I can live." He turned around and crawled out from the crevice in the rock.

Shuangyue stood before three hundred men, her white robes fluttering in the wind. "You alone, can you hold off three hundred men?" Qin Yuan's bone blade glowed with nine golden lines as he charged into the enemy ranks.

With the first stroke, ten heads flew off. With the second, twenty corpses fell to the ground. With the third, thirty men were cut in half at the waist. His body was riddled with arrows—in his back, chest, and legs. The arrow shafts trembled in the wind, but he didn't pull them out; he continued killing.

Shuangyue personally intervened. A palm strike to Qin Yuan's chest shattered his ribs, the broken bone piercing his lung, causing him to cough up blood. But his bone blade pierced Shuangyue's shoulder. Wounded, Shuangyue retreated, while Qin Yuan, covered in blood, stood atop a pile of corpses. With more than half of the three hundred pursuers dead or wounded, they retreated.

Qin Yuan returned to the ice cave, where Lin Qing'er was healing herself with her Origin Power. Her seal wasn't completely broken, but she could already use a portion of her Origin Power. Seeing Qin Yuan's injuries, her eyes reddened. Qin Yuan said, "It's nothing, just superficial wounds." He sat down and began refining the Origin Core he had obtained from slaying the God Clan. His cultivation broke through to the peak of the ninth level of the Void Origin Emperor realm. The ninth golden pattern on his bone blade was completely solidified.

The next day, Shuangyue arrived with even more pursuers. Among the group were five elders of the Divine Race, led by Xuanmingzi, a fifth-level Void God Emperor. Xuanmingzi struck down with his palm, burying Qin Yuan in the ground, cracks appearing on his bone blade. Lin Qing'er rushed out of the cave, thrusting her sword at Xuanmingzi's back, but was struck away by his palm, crashing into the ice wall and spitting out blood.

Enraged, Qin Yuan burned three thousand years of his lifespan. Golden light shone brightly on his bone blade as he severed Xuan Mingzi's left arm with a single strike. Xuan Mingzi screamed in agony, clutching his severed arm and retreating in terror.

"You can't protect her. The gods won't let you get away with this." Xuanmingzi led his remaining troops in retreat.

Qin Yuan and Lin Qing'er left the icy plains and headed south. They hid in a purple forest, teeming with demonic beasts, and fought their way through. Lin Qing'er's seal slowly dissipated during the battle, and her cultivation level returned to the first level of the Void God Emperor.

On the way, Lin Qing'er told Qin Yuan that after she was captured, she had been imprisoned in the Cold Abyss Prison, where her source energy was drained every day. The gods didn't kill her because they were waiting for Qin Yuan to come.

"Do you hate me?" Qin Yuan asked.

Lin Qing'er shook her head. "Now that you're here, I don't hate you anymore."

They traversed the forest and arrived at a small town inhabited by the gods. Upon seeing the bloodstains on Qin Yuan and the scars on Lin Qing'er's face, the gods scattered and avoided him. Qin Yuan captured a god merchant and forced him to reveal the distribution and military strength of the god royal family. The merchant knelt and begged for mercy, and Qin Yuan released him.

Qin Yuan decided not to take a detour and head directly towards the Divine Clan's imperial city.

Tianji City. The city walls are a hundred feet high, and the city gates are golden. At the city gate, there are generals of the third level of the Void God Emperor level guarding the gate, with two rows of soldiers whose spears gleam in the sunlight.

Qin Yuan asked Lin Qing'er to wait outside the city. Lin Qing'er refused. "You said we'd be together," Qin Yuan said, looking at her, and didn't refuse again.

Qin Yuan used the token he had previously obtained to sneak into the city. The token belonged to Shuangyue, and the guard, without suspicion, waved them through. Once inside, they headed straight for the Divine Clan's palace. The palace was in the city center, surrounded by a ten-zhang-high wall patrolled by soldiers. Qin Yuan and Lin Qing'er scaled the side wall and landed in the garden. The garden was filled with exotic flowers and plants, but no one was there.

Inside the imperial palace, Emperor Tianji of the Divine Race was holding a meeting. He sat on a golden dragon throne, with more than a dozen ministers standing before him. Tianji was at the peak of the ninth level of the Void God Emperor realm, his aura as deep as an abyss. He glanced up and saw Qin Yuan enter through the door.

"Tianji, come out and face your death."

Tianji sneered. "A mere ninth-level Origin Emperor dares to challenge me?" He waved his hand, and eight guards at the fifth to seventh level of the Void God Emperor realm rushed out of the hall. Qin Yuan swept his bone blade across, killing four of them in quick succession. Lin Qing'er's short sword pierced one man's throat. The remaining three were terrified and were each killed by Qin Yuan with a single strike.

Tianji's expression changed slightly, and he personally took action. With a palm strike, Qin Yuan was sent flying, crashing into a pillar and shattering it. Lin Qing'er stabbed at the back of Tianji's neck from the side, but was slapped away by a palm strike and crashed into the wall. Qin Yuan got up, burning his ten thousand years of lifespan, and the nine golden patterns on his bone blade shone brightly. He slashed at Tianji, who raised his arm to block, but his left arm was severed.

Tianji, in pain, roared, "You're courting death!" He unleashed a secret technique, his cultivation surging to the level of a half-step Void Sovereign. With a single palm strike, he sent Qin Yuan flying out of the palace, smashing through the city wall. Lin Qing'er chased after him and helped Qin Yuan up. Tianji stood on the city wall, looking down at his severed arm, blood gushing from it.

Qin Yuan was covered in wounds, and Lin Qing'er dragged him towards the city gates. Tianji led a large army in pursuit. Suddenly, an army appeared from the front—Hongyue arrived with three thousand elite soldiers from Nevernight City. Her cultivation had broken through to the first level of the Void Origin Emperor realm; she wielded a long spear, and her armor was stained with blood—it wasn't hers.

"You've finally arrived," Qin Yuan said.

Hongyue laughed and said, "I told you, you're not the only madman."

The two armies clashed. Qin Yuan took a healing pill, briefly regaining his strength, and charged at Tianji again. Tianji had lost an arm, greatly reducing his fighting power. Qin Yuan's bone blade pierced Tianji's right shoulder, while Tianji struck Qin Yuan in the chest with a palm strike, both of them staggering backward. Seeing the situation was dire, Tianji ordered a retreat. Qin Yuan knelt on one knee, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he did not pursue.